Re:1/144 HMS Courageous: SHIP COMPLETED

[oliv30330]

very very good !!! I like    more pics please!!!!

[ChernayaAkula]

<...> to bad they dont make injection kits of the Merlin. <...>

But they do! Well, sort of. F-Toys has a rather decent 1/144 Merlin as a pre-painted kit that you only need to attach a couple of parts to. They only cost a couple quid shipped from Hong Kong. So don't wait up, get that PayPal account!  
They're the Japanese kind of Merlins, so I reckon some conversion might be involved to get sub-hunters. HERE are a couple of pics on Kampfgruppe 144.

Hear ya on the NH90! Also wish Revell would re-release these.

[Spey_Phantom]

i got a few more pictures,

first off, a presentation of the planned airwing, 2 Sea Tornado FGR.1's, 1 Sea-Tornado F.2 (navalised F.3) and 1 Intruder K.1 (A-6E Tanker)



here are some larger shots of the hangar, i have been having some some problems with some of the sheets on the sponsoon curling and bending, i might have to harden it up by sprying isolation foam underneath  

[Hobbes]

If you still have access to those panels that are starting to bend, maybe you can add some braces (styrene strips perpendicular to the sheet)? 

[Green Dragon]

Hi Nils, great project you've got more guts than me building something this size! I've got one of the F-Toys Merlins that Moritz mentioned (Japanese Antarctic colours) and they are pretty good little models. They go together really quick and all you have to do is add the tail fin/tail rotor, rotor blades and undercarriage and a couple of decals, takes about five minutes and you're done! Really wish they'd release them as proper kits. Thinking of getting the RAF version too.
Good luck for the rest of the build!

Paul Harrison

[Spey_Phantom]

i did wat Hobbes advised and removed the plates from the sponsoons, imgonna try to beef them up a bit, this time with thicker sheets.
before starting on the airwing, im gonna finish some other projects first, just to shorten the "to-do" pile.

[Army of One]

Nils.....do you need any alternate a/c for your air wing as you mentioned in previous threads.....?

[Spey_Phantom]

Nils.....do you need any alternate a/c for your air wing as you mentioned in previous threads.....?

with regards to aircraft, ive got that pretty much covered, thanks 

anyway, i have a small update,
since the carrier is taking to long and has been collecting dust for quite some time, i decided to move the build to Priority 1, witch means all current projects are put on hold or postponed until the carrier is finished 

[Spey_Phantom]

i have some pictures of the works 

3 sponsoons have been replated and enforced with thicker plate (1.0mm instead of 0.5mm) and i have started work on the sides of the ship, straight long strips of 320mm long and 25mm wide, they will be going all arround the carrier to enforce the flight deck.

aditional sponsoons with the OLS, self defence systems (phalanx, Sea dart,...) and catwalks will be added once the work is completed 

in terms of aircraft, i have decided on what modifications to ad to the Sea Tornado's and i have also started work on decal designing.
Deck markings will be painted on, some of the markings (deck codes, elevator lines,...) will be made in decal form (after rough design is made on paper, the final design will be transfered to decalpaper).

[Spey_Phantom]

ok, one more update for today.

the plating arround the deck is now done, now comes the horrid long task of PSRing the huge gaps 


this is not (yet) modeled or in the stash, but decaldesign is currently underway.
to provide the carrier with an early warning platform, i thought i would get a revell 1/144 E-2C Hawkeye.
it will be painted up as a Hawkeye AEW.1 in 849 Squadron markings, the K on the tail indicates its an aircraft operating from HMS Kestrel.

here's a profile of what i got in mind  

[Army of One]

[/quote]


i decided to move the build to Priority 1, witch means all current projects are put on hold or postponed until the carrier is finished 
[/quote]

Thats the spirit.......!!!!

Great looking colour scheme.......

[Spey_Phantom]

i managed to get a full scale design for the island done on paper last night, im gonna have a try at refining it and maybe ad some minor changes.

furthermore, there is going to be a change in the airwing.
i am concidering to dump the Intruder K.1 tanker. instead, im going to replace it with a French Navy Alpha Jet-M (Navalised Ajet), figured the Fleet Air Arm might make some sort of agreement with the Aeronavale on terms of joint carrier pilot training.
furthermore, the following idea came to me in a dream, as part of the airwing, i was thining of adding a westland build version of the CH-53, the Sea Stallion HC.4 (in dark green/white camoflage like the Comando Seaking HC.4's)

here's a quick profile of the Sea Tornado F.2 in 899 squadron markings, this will be used for the carriers air defence.

[Spey_Phantom]

ok, update for today, yesterday the covering arround the hull was done,
today was the start of the most annoying part of the build, the PSR work, and this thing has Gapps with a capital G  

first thing i did was scratch a catapult runout at the front of the deck, using some leftovers from the cutting work.
still lots more PSR to go, after that, its time to make the smaller sponsoons for the OLS and seft defence systems.
island work hasnt started yet, thats gonna be for later.

if your wondering about the length, whe's over 120cm long (about 4 feet) and 28cm wide (about 1 foot)

there will be no update tomorrow, as im going a Wings & Wheels event in Ursel (maybe even find some cheap stash additions).
im gonna leave you with these pictures of tonight.

[ChernayaAkula]

Really starting to take shape now!  Get the champagne ready, for she's almost ready to launch.  Tower can be added when she's in the water.

[rickshaw]

Does it float though?